“Focus Always on the Child.” A Conversation with Pat Scales

Authors

  • Terri Suico Saint Mary's College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2376-5275.2023.6.1.166-180

Keywords:

censorship, intellectual freedom, banned books, freedom to read

Abstract

Pat Scales, the former chair of the America Library Association’s Intellectual Free Committee and freedom to read expert, shares her insights on the uptick of book challenges and bans. She also provides ideas on how educators and librarians can address and combat censorship in a proactive way.

Author Biography

Terri Suico, Saint Mary's College

Terri Suico is an associate professor of education at Saint Mary’s College. She earned her EdD from Boston University School of Education and her MAT from Vanderbilt University. Her scholarly work has been included in several books and journals. Most recently, an article she co-wrote appeared in NCTE’s English Education. She currently serves as the book review and interview editor for Study and Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature.

References

American Library Association (2023, March 22). American Library Association reports record number of demands to censor library books and materials in 2022. http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/03/record-book-bans-2022

American Library Association (2022, March 24). Large majorities of voters oppose book bans and have confidence in libraries. https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/03/large-majorities-voters-oppose-book-bans-and-have-confidence-libraries

Backus, F. & Salvanto, A. (2022, February 22). Big majorities reject book bans – CBS News poll. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/book-bans-opinion-poll-2022-02-22/

Blume, J. (1970). Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Blume, J. (1972). Tales of a fourth grade nothing. Dutton.

Garden, N. (1992). Annie on my mind. Farrar Straus Giroux.

Gino, A. (2022). Melissa. Scholastic Press.

Green, J. (2008). Looking for Alaska. Penguin Books.

Hinton, S. E. (1997). The Outsiders. Penguin Books.

Johnson, G. M. (2020). All boys aren’t blue. Farrar Straus Giroux.

Kobabe, M. (2019). Gender queer: A memoir. Oni Press.

Lipsyte, R. (1967). The contender. HarperCollins.

PEN America. (2023, April 20). Banned in the USA: State laws supercharge book suppression in schools. https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/

Richardson, J., & Parnell, P. (2005). And Tango makes three. Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Scales, P. R. (2016). Defending frequently challenged young adult books: A handbook for librarians and educators. Rowman & Littlefield, Inc.

Scales, P. R. (2020). Teaching banned books: 32 guides for children and teens (2nd ed.). ALA Editions.

Scales, P. R. (2021). Books under fire: A hit list of banned and challenged children’s books (2nd ed.). ALA Editions. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/rr-03-2015-0042

Telgemeier, R. (2012). Drama. Graphix.

Woodson, J. (2014). Brown girl dreaming. Puffin Books.

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Published

2023-08-26

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2023): CENSORSHIP AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE: INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM, READING RIGHTS, & READING ACTIVISM

Section

Interviews

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Terri Suico

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.